Kibiti and the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania // CBEMR Training

On behalf of Wetlands International Africa, the Mangrove Action Project (MAP) undertook a second two-part training on Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) for 28 participants in Kibiti and the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania. This involved a five-day, more theoretical workshop (28th Jan – 2nd Feb, 2019) followed by three days of more practical training (3rd – 5th Feb) as a follow-up to the classroom workshop. Jim Enright, Dominic Wodehouse and Jaruwan ‘Ning’ Enright from MAP were the trainers for the participants selected by Wetlands International Africa (WIA), from the Tanzanian Forest Service, local NGOs and community-based organisations (CBOs), as well as representatives from Kenya, Mozambique and Madagascar. This training was part of the capacity building element of WIA’s ‘Mangrove Capital Africa’ program, funded by DoB Ecology, from the Netherlands.

The hugely important Rufiji Delta has the largest expanse of mangrove forest in East Africa but are still being heavily degraded from agriculture developments for rice and over exploitation for poles and timber. The objectives of the trainings would find sustainable conservation solutions and scenarios for the declining coastal forests with local communities.

The first part of the training introduced the importance of mangrove hydrology and drainage followed mangrove biology, and how good hydrology was crucial for delivering mangrove ecosystem benefits, as well as maintaining appropriate salinity levels and distributing seeds/propagules. This helped increase participants’ ability to understand the complexities of potential sites – social as well as biophysical – and how they can rehabilitate them using the CBEMR method. This included mitigating mangrove stressors and understanding why mangroves were not regenerating, before facilitating natural regeneration and monitoring the work for 3-5 years. Beyond the problem of clearance for rice farming in the delta, the mangroves suffer from over-harvesting of mangroves poles and timber and smothering by climbers which stress big trees and kill off juvenile plants and natural regeneration. Second, the group focused specifically on the issue of encroachment by rice farmers in the western end of the delta. Rice farming within this part of the delta was possible because the salinity of the water was so low, which also encouraged the mangroves to grow rapidly. The combined group of stakeholders explored what conditions and resources the government would have to provide to stop any further encroachment, and the incentives the farmers needed to restore the land they had cleared of mangroves, and eventually encourage the farmers to move inland to farm in more appropriate areas. Discussions included the need to offer alternative livelihood options that would reduce the mangrove clearance.

ProjectCommunity-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration TrainingLocationKibiti and the Rufiji Delta, TanzaniaStart YearJanuary 2019OutcomeMangrove Restoration, Alternative LivelihoodsLinkhttps://bit.ly/2IzTRtP